A bovine escape artist is in need of a new, presumably very secure home after evading capture in Boston's woods for two months.
The Hereford steer, who was finally captured last week after being reported missing in the city's Roslindale neighborhood on June 22, has been named Moodini, the MSPCA said Thursday as it put out a search for someone with experience raising cattle to adopt the animal.
Now living at the animal welfare group's Nevins Farm facility in Methuen, Moodini is healthy, if "a little thin, which isn’t surprising considering he’s been living in the woods in Boston for weeks," said Kaycie McCarthy, Nevins Farm's equine and farm animal outreach and rescue manager, in a statement.
"Moodini is also a little skeptical of humans right now, which makes sense given that he's been living feral in the woods for months," she added. "But we know that he'll open up and be a great addition to the right family, and we want to find them now, so he's able to start his new life as soon as he's ready!"
Boston Animal Care and Control announced the animal's capture on Tuesday, saying it had remained hidden in thick bushes until a temporary pen could be built for the steer to be lured into with food and water.
MSPCA officials shared more on the complex capture, which required 12 people, including a Parks Department employee to chainsaw through thick trees. Moodini's temporary pen was eventually opened and he walked the length of a football field through livestock panels to get to the MSPCA trailer.
"We don't often get calls about large animals loose in a city, and when we do, it's usually for wild animals like a moose or a bear, maybe a horse that escaped from a fenced in area," McCarthy said. "So, this was new territory for us!"
The rescue agency said that Moodini's capture clarified that Nevins Farm needs an $8,000 squeeze chute, a device used to examine cattle, and is also asking for one to be donated.
